title: Effect of varying bulb height on articulation and nasalance in maxillectomy patients with hollow bulb obturator.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effect of bulb height of hollow bulb obturator prosthesis on articulation and nasalance.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 10 patients, who were to undergo maxillectomy falling under Aramany class-I and II, with normal speech and hearing pattern were selected for the study. They were provided 2 maxillary obturators, one extending full height of the defect and other with bulb height approximately up to inferior nasal concha. The patients were asked to wear each obturator for 6 weeks and the speech analysis was done to measure changes in articulation and nasalance at 6 different stages of treatment i.e. preoperative, postoperative (after complete healing), 24h and 6 weeks after providing full bulb height obturator and reduced bulb height obturator. Articulation was measured objectively for distortion, addition, substitution and omission by speech pathologist and nasalance was measured by Dr. SPEECH software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparison between full and reduced bulb height for nasalance and articulation, showed that there was no statistical significant difference (P>0.05) between the two for both the parametres.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Articulation and nasality improves after providing obturator. Articulation and nasalance both are independent of bulb height.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial Prosthodontics, Centre for Dental Education and Research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. drbizenia@gmail.com
authors.forename: Pravesh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Veena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thakar
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008437:Maxilla / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010158:Palatal Obturators; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Hollow bulb obturator; Maxillectomy; Nasalance; Speech analysis